Big wooden wall plugs - advice?

[David]

Following on from the previous wall plug threads, I am now contemplating the strategy of glueing wooden plugs made from broom handle into the wall.

I have the drills, I can buy the broom handles.

I do have questions about the glue, though.

I am thinking of using

which seems to fit the bill, but I have no idea how much I will need.

I assume I treat the broom handle more or less like a massive dowel, with a snug fit and some grooves to help hold the glue.

However I have no real idea how much space I should allow around the wood (should a 24mm broom handle have a 25mm hole, for instance?).

Anyway, onwards and upwards.

Any advice from someone who has already used this strategy more than welcome.

Given that I can remember the time when fibre rawplugs were the new thing in DIY because they were easier than cutting wooden plugs, this seems like deja vu.

Cheers

Dave R

[DerbyBorn]

The old fibre plugs used to split open and wedge tightly in the hole as the old woodscrews had a tapered root diameter. Modern screws tend to have a fairly parallel root to the thread as well as sharper threads and they tend to cut themselves a thread into the plug rather than forcing them open. Personally, the modern scres are great for timber as they are less likely to cause splits - but this is not what you want in a wallplug - you want the "splitting" tendency.

[Nick]

I have used large dowel as wall plug a couple of times in the past. I think your measurements are more than adequate. Can't comment on adhesive as I have no experience of this stuff. Presumably you're drilling into masonry and screwing something into the ends of the dowels (haven't seen prev thread) if so:

1) hole in masonry is likely to end up a little larger. 2) cross dowel the broom handle before fitting, allows screw fixings to be used in endgrain. 3) use a hardwood broom handle.

hth Nick.

[Tricky Dicky]

If your "cinder blocks" are the type with hollow sections in the middle the n you are probably going to hit problems if you cannot avoid the hollows. I n your other thread I suggested fixing blocks of wood the same thickness as the plaster around the curved wall then you can screw through into the blo cks. If you get them reasonably wide 75mm + then you might get away with ju st glueing them on with Gripfill, however you will have to scrape as much p laster off the glueing area as possible and seal what remains with PVA. As an alternative or in addition use several screws to hold the blocks on. Dri lling these screws in at an angle will give a dovetail effect. It's all abo ut spreading the fixing point over a wider area rather than concentrating t he tension at one point.

Richard

[meow2222]

Masonry holes usually come out a bit bigger than the bit, so a 24mm bit for 24mm wood should be ok.

It depends what you're fixing, but for the usual loads, powdered interior filler is more than strong enough. Just stick some in the hole & press the dowel in, excess will ooze out. It does take 2-3 days to dry fully.

NT

[David]

Ah!

I completely misunderstood your previous post, then. I thought you were talking about sinking a plug into the wall (as suggested by another poster). Interesting approach. Almost a skirting board section behind the skirting board.

Only down side might be the depth of the wood - the plaster is only 15mm thick so I would only be able to use at maximum 15mm thick wood, and that would need shaping. So there is a danger that the screw would just rip out of the 15mm board behind it.

I would be happier with more depth for the screw to grip.

Cheers

Dave R

[David]

I've bought some two part adhesive for fixing studs into crumbly walls. Seems a lot more sticky than interior filler.

However I've got to swap the tube. I went to get the one linked to above, which uses a normal applicator gun. They didn't have any, and offered me the next size up. They didn't tell me that this version requires a £30 specialist applicator gun! So going back tomorrow to swap it for two small ones which I have ordered.

So far nobody has said "Yes, I did that and this is how it went".

Cheers

Dave R

[David]

Thanks - not sure what you mean by "cross dowel" though.

Google shows me metal things as found in Ikea furniture.

[stuart noble]

Can' t remember whether you gave the thickness of the mdf you were trying to bend, but half a dozen 2mm pieces would probably bend easily and be stable when glued together. Broom handle dowels is not the answer IMO. Things held under that much tension probably won't stay put for long.

[The Medway Handyman]

Drill a hole through the side of the broom handle plug and insert a dowel. That was the screw has the side of the dowel to bite into, rather than just the end grain of the broom handle.

When I use resin it's a 12mm hole for a 10mm stud, so I'm guessing 20% extra in diameter.

Don't get the resin on hands or skirting - its a right sod to remove once it sets.

[The Medway Handyman]

[David]

Here is a long awaited photo!

DSC_0975.jpg

[meow2222]

If that's all you're fixing, why the OTT fixings?

NT

[stuart noble]

Quite a range of cordless drills there! :-)

[David]

O.K. - thanks. This made me think of just putting the broom handle in sideways but then you need any wood, plus an efficient way of cutting a non-circular hole.

This is getting more complicated - as I now need some dowel as well.

Oh, well - onwards and upwards.

Cheers

Dave R

[David]

Because it won't conform in detail with the curve, even though it is roughly the correct shape.

The main reason for the OTT fixings is that that the wall behind is just a bit too crumbly. I get the skirting just about flat up to the wall, then the screw slackens off again because it has destroyed the plastic plug and/ or the wall.

I have wondered about using plastic plugs and glue to try and stop them ripping the wall.

I am assuming that one benefit of the 23-24mm diameter wooden plugs is the much larger contact area between the plugs and the surrounding wall.

I hope that the plugs don't just get bigger and bigger until I need to rebuild that part of the wall!

Cheers

Dave R

[meow2222]

Well, I'd stick them in with polyfilla, no need for anything tougher. I'd definitely paint the holes with pva before polyfilling.

NT